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The Wabash Valley's News, Weather and Sports LeaderTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:45:17 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://0.gravatar.com/blavatar/e396a450a3f32b43fa03fd4ba702dccf?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Newshttp://wthitv.com
White House says Indiana law is different from federal onehttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/white-house-says-indiana-law-is-different-from-federal-one/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/white-house-says-indiana-law-is-different-from-federal-one/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:42:35 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89429]]>WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House doesn’t agree with the statement by Indiana’s governor that his state’s new religious-freedom law is just like a federal law from more than 20 years ago.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the Indiana law marks a “significant expansion” over the federal law — because it applies to private transactions, and not just those involving the government.

In defending the law today, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said it’s similar to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and to the laws that have been passed in other states.

But critics have said the Indiana law is designed to protect businesses and individuals who don’t want to serve gays and lesbians — such as florists or caterers who might be hired for a same-sex wedding.

Pence said he doesn’t believe Indiana lawmakers wanted to “create a license to discriminate.” He said he wants to see legislation on his desk by the end of the week to clarify that the law doesn’t allow discrimination against gays and lesbians.

But Democrats in the Indiana legislature say nothing less than a repeal will do.

Businesses and organizations including Apple and the NCAA have voiced concern over Indiana’s law, and some states have barred government-funded travel to Indiana.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/white-house-says-indiana-law-is-different-from-federal-one/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:42:35 +0000Religious ObjectionswthijadescottPolice: Man, woman found dead after medical office shootinghttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/police-man-woman-found-dead-after-medical-office-shooting/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/police-man-woman-found-dead-after-medical-office-shooting/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:40:19 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89427]]>FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A man and a woman in a romantic relationship were found dead after a shooting at a medical office building in downtown Fresno, police in central California said Tuesday.

No other injuries were reported, Fresno police Lt. Joe Gomez said. Investigators found a shotgun inside the Eye Medical Clinic, he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if authorities consider the shooting a murder-suicide, but police are not searching for any suspects. The identities of the two have not been released.

The call came in as a domestic disturbance shortly before 11 a.m., police said. Officers surrounded the building and ordered people to evacuate, Gomez said. A short search of the building led to the bodies.

Several nearby businesses and Fresno City Hall were evacuated during the search, but people have since returned to those buildings.

Police released few details about the shooting but plan to give out more information at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/police-man-woman-found-dead-after-medical-office-shooting/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:40:19 +0000generic-police-lights-daywthijadescottFull of sass and stories: Oldest WWII veteran in Vermillion Co. receives honorhttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/full-of-sass-and-stories-oldest-wwii-veteran-in-vermillion-co-receives-honor/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/full-of-sass-and-stories-oldest-wwii-veteran-in-vermillion-co-receives-honor/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:32:36 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89396]]>CLINTON, Ind. (WTHI) – The city of Clinton is honoring a dying veteran. But not just any veteran – he is the oldest World War II veteran in Vermillion County.

And while Charles ‘Chuck’ Tyler may be 96-years-old, he is still sharp as a tack and full of charisma.

He served as Staff Sergeant in the Army from 1939 to 1945.

“[Chuck, tell me about being in the military, what do you remember most?] Chasing girls!”

Anyone who meets him quickly realizes Chuck’s not only full of sass and stories…

“We get on this boat, start taking off, ‘Goodbye France, goodbye girls…goodbye…bye-bye.’ We didn’t go half a block and …we torn the side of the boat out. It was a French pilot who was supposed to get the boat out of the harbor and he was drunk!”

But, he’s also quite the jokester.

He’ll steal your heart, the way he stole his late wife Hannah’s heart while living on base at Camp Forrest in Tennessee.

But, recently Chuck found out he’s dying from colon cancer – a fight he fought and beat 20-years ago. So, before Chuck makes his exit, his town wanted to honor him.

And Chuck’s friends and family are racing against time to get him his Purple Heart.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/full-of-sass-and-stories-oldest-wwii-veteran-in-vermillion-co-receives-honor/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:32:36 +0000WWIIwthijadescottFormer Vice President Dan Quayle take the stage at DePauwhttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/former-vice-president-dan-quayle-take-the-stage-at-depauw/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/former-vice-president-dan-quayle-take-the-stage-at-depauw/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:25:03 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89414]]>GREENECASTLE, Ind. (WTHI) – Former Vice President Dan Quayle is set to take the stage at DePauw University in Greenecastle.

“Currently, all services are working, though users may experience slow page load times or intermittent outages,” a release stated Tuesday afternoon.

Last Friday a group calling themselves RedVikingdom claimed they took the government website offline. But, state officials reported the website was not hacked but that a high volume of traffic on Friday caused the website to experience intermittent outages.

On Tuesday that same group is taking credit for what they claim is taking the website offline. Problems with the site began around 2:40 p.m.

“The website was not hacked,” the release stated. “A denial of service attack consists of sending many traffic requests at the same time in order to overwhelm a website and have it not be able to load.”

Google added the option to convert its popular navigation service into the Pac Man video game on Tuesday morning, around the same day the calendar turned to April 1 in Asia. That ushered in a day when Google shows off its playful side by injecting more fun and humor into its services.

The gag on Google Maps enables visitors to click on a Pac-Man symbol in the lower left of the screen to play the video game on whatever location is listed in the address bar. As has been happening for decades, Pac Man eats blinking dots while trying to elude four “ghosts” — Pinky, Blinky, Inky and Clyde.

Tuesday morning officials report a tractor collided with a train in Vermillion County. Just before 10:30 a.m. the driver of the tractor went to cross the tracks just behind Eli Lilly when the train clipped the tractor before it could clear the tracks.

Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee members discussed a proposal Tuesday to eliminate the Common Construction Wage Law, which requires boards to set wages for each state or local project.

Supporters argue that the wages are set artificially high and hinder the competitive market from lowering bid prices and saving taxpayer money. Critics say eliminating the law will decrease labor productivity, construction quality and worker salaries.

Committee Chairman Brandt Hershman, a Lafayette Republican, proposed an amendment that would establish harsh punishments for contractors who abuse work rules and require an employee training program.

Hershman says lawmakers won’t vote on the measure until next week to allow for further review.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/senate-panel-considers-repeal-of-construction-wage-law/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 19:13:01 +0000generic-indiana-state-housewthijadescottNY Gov. Cuomo bans some state-funded travel to Indianahttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/ny-gov-cuomo-bans-some-state-funded-travel-to-indiana/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/ny-gov-cuomo-bans-some-state-funded-travel-to-indiana/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 19:04:01 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89360]]>ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned all non-essential, state-funded travel to Indiana after that state adopted a religious freedom law that critics say opens the door to discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The Democratic governor announced the ban Tuesday, saying it shows the state stands by “our LBGT family members, friends and colleagues.”

Lawmakers had called for such a ban earlier in the day.

A similar travel ban was signed by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy on Monday.

Businesses and organizations like the NCAA have also voiced concerns about the law.

The measure’s supporters say it’s intended to protect religious liberty. On Tuesday Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said his state has a “perception problem” and said he wants legislation to “clarify” the law.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The airline said that as part of its internal research it found emails that Andreas Lubitz sent to the Lufthansa flight school in Bremen when he resumed his training there after an interruption of several months.

In them, he informed the school that he had suffered a “serious depressive episode,” which had since subsided.

The airline said Lubitz subsequently passed all medical checks and that it has provided the documents to prosecutors. It declined to make any further comment.

Questions have been raised about what the airline knew about Lubitz’s condition before last week’s fatal crash.

Authorities say the 27-year-old, who in the past had been treated for suicidal tendencies, locked his captain out of the cockpit before deliberately crashing the Airbus 320 into a mountain in the French Alps. All 150 people aboard Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf were killed that day.

Earlier Tuesday, Lufthansa said it had set aside $300 million to deal with possible costs from the March 24 crash.

The former Maryland governor criticized 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls while in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Several have expressed support for the law, which prevents the state from restricting the ability of people and businesses to express their religious beliefs. Opponents say the law will allow businesses to refuse service to people, based on sexual orientation.

O’Malley said Republican support for the law reflects a fundamental difference between the two parties. Democrats, he says, want more people to participate fully in society.

“I think it’s shameful that presidential candidates in this day and age would try to give cover to a law that is sweeping across a lot of Republican-governed states,” he said, and that would “give license to the discrimination of gay and lesbian people.” He said: “It’s not who we are as a country.”

Struggling with a backlash against the measure, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Tuesday he now wants legislation on his desk to clarify that the new law does not allow discrimination.

About 20 states have similar laws.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush applauded Pence for signing the law and said it is not discriminatory. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, an announced 2016 contender, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a possible Republican candidate, also commended Pence’s signing of the law.

O’Malley pointed to actions taken in Maryland during his governorship that raised business participation among minorities and women, legalized gay marriage and made it easier for immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

“We do these things because we know that our state’s better, our economy’s better, our country and our society is better the more fully people participate,” he said. Republicans “don’t subscribe to that.”

O’Malley is traveling to early voting states seeking to build support for a possible 2016 bid as Democrats consolidate around former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She’s expected to announce her candidacy in coming weeks.

O’Malley’s visit to New Hampshire, his second this month, included a Tuesday morning speech to a business crowd, private meetings and an event with young Democrats. His speech centered on enriching and expanding the middle class by raising wages, reining in Wall Street and halting discrimination based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

Over the weekend, O’Malley took a swipe at both Clinton and Bush when he said the presidency is not “a crown to be passed between two families.” But he was less apt to criticize Clinton on Tuesday, saying only that he hears from people who want new leadership.

“History’s full of examples where the front-runner is the front-runner and totally inevitable, right up until the front-runner’s no longer the front-runner and no longer inevitable,” O’Malley said.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/democrat-omalley-hits-gop-support-for-indiana-law/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:33:15 +0000Martin O'MalleywthijadescottParents arrested for alleged child neglect after 2-month-old found unresponsive last Octoberhttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/parents-arrested-for-alleged-child-neglect-after-2-month-old-found-unresponsive-last-october/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/parents-arrested-for-alleged-child-neglect-after-2-month-old-found-unresponsive-last-october/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 17:23:37 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89314]]>KINGMAN, Ind. (WTHI) – After a two-month-old was found unresponsive at a home in Kingman last October, the parents have now been arrested for alleged neglect of the child.

Timothy J. Briere, 20, and Vanessa M. Larque, 20 both of Kingman, were arrested Tuesday after an investigation into the death of their two-month-old infant on Oct. 8 of 2014. Officials report the infant was found unresponsive at 11 West Side Street in Kingman. That infant was pronounced dead shortly after EMS arrived at the scene.

Briere and Larque were arrested for alleged neglect of the child ‘by mistreating the two-month-old by shaking or by sudden violent impact resulting in serve trauma to the head,’ a press release from Indiana State Police stated.

Both are facing charges including neglect of child resulting in death and neglect of a child. Their bail was set at $75,000.00 apiece and both are being held at the Fountain County Jail.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/parents-arrested-for-alleged-child-neglect-after-2-month-old-found-unresponsive-last-october/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:23:37 +0000FotorCreatedwthijadescottFamed llamas head into retirementhttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/famed-llamas-head-into-retirement/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/famed-llamas-head-into-retirement/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 17:09:02 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89303]]>PHOENIX (WISH) — Two llamas that made national headlines during an escape last month are retiring from public life.

Before their escape, the Internet’s favorite “llamas on the lam” appeared at parades and schools, but since their rise to fame, their owners say someone complained to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, saying they didn’t have permits to showcase the animals.

The USDA requires any warm-blooded animals being displayed in public or used in educational presentations to be licensed.

The animals’ owners tell The Guardian newspaper they have tried to contact the agency, but are giving up because they say all correspondence must be done in writing.

“I have been monitoring (Pence’s) remarks closely. And I don’t see any indication that there is a willingness to see that a mistake has been made,” said Rep. Pelath. “The remedy has to be clear, decisive and understandable. The most understandable thing to do is to repeal it, and repeal it promptly.”

The legislator stated that he felt the governor needed to fix the damage that he had done to the Hoosier state.

The response press conference came one hour after the governor’s press conference, where Pence stated that, “We will fix this.”

Rep. Lanane was frustrated at the lack of communication between parties on the original legislation and on the promise that the bill would be fixed.

“This had not been a bipartisan approach. I have not heard form Senator Long, but I hope to hear from him soon,” said Sen. Lanane.

Lanane had harsh words for the bill. He said the bill is “tainted and needs to be repealed.”

He stated that Indiana Democrats had an answer to the firestorm caused by RFRA.

]]>http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/democrats-to-respond-to-pence-on-rfra/feed/0Tue, 31 Mar 2015 19:05:34 +000064FBCE7604C94FC7A97406A1E9C2FE2FwthijadescottBicknell man faces 10 counts including rape and child molestinghttp://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/bicknell-man-faces-10-counts-including-rape-and-child-molesting/
http://wthitv.com/2015/03/31/bicknell-man-faces-10-counts-including-rape-and-child-molesting/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 14:59:17 +0000http://wthitv.com/?p=89231]]>VINCENNES, Ind. (WTHI) – One Bicknell, Indiana man faces ten charges all in relation to sex crimes against a minor. James Burden, 38 of Bicknell, according to court documents was arrested March 24. Court records show Burden appeared for his first court hearing Friday. One of the man’s counts include that the victim was mentally disabled.

According to court documents, the 10 counts ranged in dates from 2004 through 2011. Here is a look at those charges:

A booking record released to News 10 shows that Burden has a lengthy criminal record which include past arrests for battery in 2012 and criminal mischief, also in 2012. It’s not clear whether Burden saw convictions on those charges. Court records did not show a future court date for Burden.